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Pedro Bernardinelli

@pbernardinelli.com

110 followers 140 following 59 posts

DiRAC fellow @ UW, PhD from Penn. Discoverer of minor planets and C/2014 UN271, Brazilian, coffee dependent, geek. He/him/ele, pt-br/en

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Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jan 6

New paper on arXiv! This paper concludes our outer Solar System efforts with the Dark Energy Survey.
Long thread, because this is a ridiculously long paper. Paper link: arxiv.org/abs/2501.01551

Photometry of outer Solar System objects from the Dark Energy Survey II: a joint analysis of trans-Neptunian absolute magnitudes, colors, lightcurves and dynamics

For the 696 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) with absolute magnitudes $5.5 < H_r < 8.2$ detected in the Dark Energy Survey (DES), we characterize the relationships between their dynamical state and phys...

arxiv.org

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Reposted by Pedro Bernardinelli

Sarah Tuttle @niais.bsky.social · 4d

Hello! I'm the grad program coordinator and past admissions chair summoned to answer your questions.
It is a multi-part decision (one many departments are currently navigating.) For us, we got an awesome class last year that was larger than our larger than our target by ~x2.

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Reposted by Pedro Bernardinelli

Meg Schwamb @megschwamb.bsky.social · 5d

Sad to see the University of Washington Astronomy Department has suspended graduate admissions for the 2026-2027 Academic Year. astro.washington.edu/graduate-adm...

Graduate Admissions | Department of Astronomy | University of Washington

The Department of Astronomy has suspended graduate admissions for the 2026-2027 Academic Year. General Information for applying to UW Astronomy Graduate Program. Applications must be submitted using ...

astro.washington.edu

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Reposted by Pedro Bernardinelli

James Davenport @jradavenport.com · 26d

On the 🔭🧪 postdoc job market? Excited about science with Rubin and big surveys? Come join us at DiRAC. I’m so excited that we’re able to offer a few of these Fellowship positions this year!

Please share, LMK if you have Q’s!

aas.org/jobregister/...

Postdoctoral Scholar - Institute for Data Intensive Research in Astrophysics & Cosmology | American Astronomical Society

We invite applications for the 2026 DiRAC Fellowship in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington. These up to 3-year full time postdoctoral positions are available to promising earl...

aas.org

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Reposted by Pedro Bernardinelli

Sarah Tuttle @niais.bsky.social · Sep 8

Are you looking graduating and looking for fellowship opportunities? The UW is a host institution for 51 Peg b!

Applications are open now, and due October 3rd.

We have faculty available in multiple departments available to host, across subfields in Planetary Science. Reach out for more info!

51 Pegasi b Fellowship

The 51 Pegasi b Fellowship provides exceptional postdoctoral scientists with the opportunity to conduct theoretical, observational, and experimental research in planetary astronomy.

www.hsfoundation.org

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Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Aug 15

Cool thread with one of my favorite plots of all time!

James Davenport @jradavenport.com · Aug 15

Well... the discussion around 3I/ATLAS continues to... evolve. This object is super exciting, fascinating, worthy of a LOT of study and press! ALSO so far as I have seen, & from every solar system expert I've talked to (and I know a lot of 'em!), it looks like a comet, not a spaceship.
🔭🧪☄️

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Reposted by Pedro Bernardinelli

Michele Bannister @astrokiwi.bsky.social · Jul 21

It's paper day! The first science paper with data from @vrubinobs.bsky.social's survey camera, the mighty LSSTCam, is a VERY quick turnaround of Rubin's observations thus far of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. ☄️
Chandler et al., submitted 🔭
A 🧵

NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Observations of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1)

We report on the observation and measurement of astrometry, photometry, morphology, and activity of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, also designated C/2025 N1 (ATLAS), with the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin ...

arxiv.org

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Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jul 21

Lots of science aside, I love this (unintentionally!) out of focus image of 3I taken on June 24

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Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jul 21

New paper on arXiv, analyzing Rubin Observatory data of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. This is the first science paper with data from LSSTCam!!!!!

arxiv.org/abs/2507.13409

NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Observations of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1)

arxiv.org

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Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jul 15

Cool! Very happy to see this out. Looking forward to reading it when I don’t have hundreds of Slack messages to go through ;)

Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jul 4

That was quick!

astrafoxen @astrafoxen.bsky.social · Jul 4

New paper on interstellar comet #3I/ATLAS is out on arXiv! By Darryl Seligman and more.
Images show a fuzzy tail, and the comet's dusty coma is similarly reddish like the other interstellar comet 2I/Borisov.
arxiv.org/abs/2507.02757
☄️🔭🧪

Stacked gri-band image cut-out (9.6′′ width) from CFHT on 2025 July 2 showing faint activity. North is up, and East to the left.

The visible+near-infrared colors of 3I/ATLAS obtained with FTN normalized at 5500 Angstroms and plotted against 1I/‘Oumuamua (Q.-Z. Ye et al. 2017), 2I/Borisov (J. de Leon et al. 2020), the extremely red Centaur Pholus (R. P. Binzel 1992), and the mean D-type asteroid spectrum (F. E. DeMeo et al. 2009). Note that errors on the color measurement are plotted, but are approximately the size of the plot points. 3I/ATLAS shows a moderately red spectral slope similar to 1I/‘Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov.

Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jul 2

Half of our timeline: “Oh sh…. How did you hack my overleaf?!?!?!?”

Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jul 2

Oh look, a point source!

astrafoxen @astrafoxen.bsky.social · Jul 2

Interstellar object candidate #A11pl3Z from Deep Random Survey, Chile (obs code X09). No obvious tail, will have to do a stack to see if there's anything...

Date is 2025 Jul 2 00:52:39 UTC.

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Reposted by Pedro Bernardinelli

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social · Jun 30

Think you can spot a comet? ☄️

Try your eye with the *very first* citizen science project on @zooniverse.bsky.social that uses data from NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory, Comet Catchers! 🔭🧪

We can't think of a more fitting project for #AsteroidDay 🤩

☄️ cometcatchers.net ☄️

Rubin Observatory beneath the vibrant blue sky of twilight. The observatory is a boot-shaped structure at center, with long white service building and vertical silver dome. The thin, faint streak of a comet appears to the left of the observatory. Text reads "New citizen science project using NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory data. Introducing: Comet Catchers. Join the hunt for comets in Rubin data!"

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Reposted by Pedro Bernardinelli

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social · Jun 23

Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory!

Can you guess these regions of sky?

This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪

#RubinFirstLook
ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. At top center lies a large elliptical galaxy that is dense and smooth, like a polished stone glowing with golden light. Like delicate spider silk or stretched taffy, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath, evidence of past collisions.

All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

A cosmic tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the upper right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its soft, pinkish gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark, finger-like veins of dust that divide it into three parts. It radiates a gentle, misty glow, diffuse and soft like the warmth of breath on a cold hand. To the lower left, the much larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout where new stars are born. Both nebulae are embedded in a soft tan backdrop of gas that is brighter on the left than on the right, etched with dark tendrils of dust and sprinkled with the pinpricks of millions of stars.

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Reposted by Pedro Bernardinelli

The Midnight Society @midnightpals.bsky.social · Jun 7

[space coven]
Mary Robinette Kowal: listen up, boys!
Kowal: I've got a story for you... the story of the lady astronaut!
Kowal: that's right
Kowal: a lady wants to be an astronaut
Kowal: how about that?!

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Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jun 5

Always great to see wide coverage of our papers!

Gizmodo @gizmodo.com · Jun 5

Upcoming Telescope Predicted to Discover Millions of Hidden Solar System Objects https://gizmodo.com/upcoming-telescope-predicted-to-discover-millions-of-hidden-solar-system-objects-2000611672

Upcoming Telescope Predicted to Discover Millions of Hidden Solar System Objects

With 3.2 billion pixels and a decade-long search, the Rubin Observatory will reveal what’s been hiding in plain sight.

gizmodo.com

Reposted by Pedro Bernardinelli

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social · Jun 4

The sky doesn’t wait—and neither will we!💨

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory has an automated scheduler that takes into account current weather conditions, moon phases, and observatory capabilities to determine the best next place to point the telescope. 🌙 #CaptureTheCosmos

🔭🧪
📷: P. Assunção Lago (Rubin)

The glowing, dense band of stars of our home Milky Way galaxy appears to spill across the image from the open dome slit of Rubin Observatory at bottom right.

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Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jun 4

The best part of the main sorcha paper is the Acknowledgements section ( @megschwamb.bsky.social , I had forgotten we had this paragraph!)

Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jun 4

And, finally, our approach to optimize ephemerides calculations: arxiv.org/abs/2506.02140

Sorcha: Optimized Solar System Ephemeris Generation

Sorcha is a solar system survey simulator built for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) and future large-scale wide-field surveys. Over the ten-year survey, the LSST...

arxiv.org

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Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jun 4

The main paper describing Sorcha: arxiv.org/abs/2506.02804

Sorcha: A Solar System Survey Simulator for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time

The upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is expected to revolutionize solar system astronomy. Unprecedented in scale, this ten-year wide-field survey will c...

arxiv.org

Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jun 4

arxiv.org/abs/2506.02779 for @astjoephysics.bsky.social ‘s simulations of Centaurs

Predictions of the LSST Solar System Yield: Discovery Rates and Characterizations of Centaurs

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will start by the end of 2025 and operate for ten years, offering billions of observations of the southern night sky. One of its ma...

arxiv.org

Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jun 4

And also, four papers on arXiv! arxiv.org/abs/2506.02487 for our simulations of near Earth objects, main belt asteroids, Jupiter Trojans and trans-Neptunian objects

Predictions of the LSST Solar System Yield: Near-Earth Objects, Main Belt Asteroids, Jupiter Trojans, and Trans-Neptunian Objects

The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a new 8m-class survey facility presently being commissioned in Chile, expected to begin the 10yr-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) by the end of 2025...

arxiv.org

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Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · Jun 4

How many objects of your favorite (main) Solar System population will @vrubinobs.bsky.social discover? See thread for the answer and sorcha.space for more details

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Reposted by Pedro Bernardinelli

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social · May 23

🚨 SAVE THE DATE: The world's First Look at images from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory is coming June 23, 2025! 🔭🧪

Get ready for a preview of how Rubin will soon #CaptureTheCosmos in its decade-long survey 🌌

More details soon—stay up to date at rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-look

Save-the-date graphic for the worldwide "First Look" at Rubin Observatory first revealed images. Text reads, "Save the date! June 23, 2025. NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory First Look"

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Pedro Bernardinelli @pbernardinelli.com · May 22

Cool paper on arXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2505.15806

I for a minute thought this was DES data and I missed it, but it’s not

Discovery of a dwarf planet candidate in an extremely wide orbit: 2017 OF201

We report the discovery of a dwarf planet candidate, 2017 OF201, currently located at a distance of 90.5 au. Its orbit is extremely wide and extends to the inner Oort cloud, with a semi-major axis of ...

arxiv.org

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